Cordon Bleu cooking class
there was a mirror above the counter so you could see exactly what the chef is doing
tuna tartar in tomatoes with a honey vinaigrette
Chicken with au jus, roasted cabbage
Van Gogh's grave
me with the stairs I sprained my ankle on!!
at the karaoke place - stephanie and kevin
stephanie & nick singing
me & Chris
stephanie and kevin looking for songs
nick and kevin singing "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay"
Gillian & I singing
more of me & Gillian
me & Nick
Kevin & Stephanie dancing
nick & kevin
someone pushed over a scooter
entrance to the Catacombs
long dark passageway
not the place to go if you're claustrophobic - this was created to get rock to build the city with, and hundreds of feet were dug out of the land, and then stopped when the West Bank of the Seine was in danger of collapsing
you can kind of see where they originally excavated rock here - this is also where the French Resistance set up headquarters during WWII
better - lots of excavated rock
walking through the tunnel
"Workshop" - former quarry, represents "pillar & stall" method where some rock is left to hold the roof while other rock is pulled away
carving made from memory by a worker who died in a cave-in
more carving from memory
Port-Mahon gallery - model of Port Mahon fortress, which is in Minorca, one of the Balearic Islands. He carved this from memory because he was imprisoned near here by the English, and could see it every day.
stairs down to more excavated rock passageways
quarryman's foot bath - small pool of clear groundwater tapped into for personal use
“This is fun?”
less claustrophobic passageway
telling you what street you're under - also a way to not get lost for original workers
entrance to the ossuary - this part of the catacbombs has hundreds of Paris's dead buried in it from when they cleared out many of the cemeteries in the city
bones
yeah, lots of bones
those are skulls shaped in a heart - funny?
you can't really see - but this is the "samaritaine" fountain - a natural spring set in a small circular room
the bones were moved from the Landry Cemetery June 8, 1792
first “monument” put up in the Catacombs - held a fire to increase circulation of air through the tunnels (before the bones were here)
"Gilbert" tomb - not actually a tomb, but built to hide a roof support. The tomb is engraved with verses from the poet Gilbert who died in 1780, but he's not actually buried here.
look, a big vase. Made of . . . bones.
model of an original excavation, which became prone to collapsing. This one is reinforced with steel, and it says 1875, backwards, at the top
list of some of the more famous bodies in the Catacombs - though they don't know where they're actually buried. One was executed April 5, 1794.
lion in Denfert Plaza - for the Nation
Montparnasse Cemetery
grave of Mexico's best-known president Portifilio Diaz
Citroen is a very popular car in Europe
grave of the architect of the statue of Liberty
grave of Alfred Dreyfus - soldier with a very public and intense trial called “The Dreyfus Affair”
no, not Bach's actual grave, but I couldn't help myself.
outside the National Opera House in Paris, famous for the Phantom of the Opera story. Yeah.
very well-known and very, very pricy hotel near the opera
Sacre Coeur!
Hard Rock, Paris
first restaurant in Paris for the “common man” - fairly cheap and yummy food. I ate there later.
Palace Club - very famous in the 70's (Grace Jones opened it, I believe), but now closed
Hotel of the Arts
National Bank of Paris or BNP (Banque Nationale de Paris)
famous movie theater, club
mini Arc. Not the Arc de Triomphe.
Still impressive
inside the Paris National Opera House
ceiling in the lobby
another domed ceiling with a pretty design on it
see the gold star-like points coming down?
gorgeous
she's holding a harp
just an everyday lamp post
Montmartre Cemetery - grave of Hector Berlioz!!
I'm pretend conducting "Symphonie Fantastique"
Montmartre Cemetery
grave of Adolphe sax - inventor of the saxophone
cool
hee hee - this guy's last name is Martini
Moulin Rouge!!
ahh, the windmill
Sacre Coeur ("Sacred Heart") - gorgeous church famous for being built at the top of the Montmartre hill - the only (real) hill in Paris
the church is made from stone that bleaches itself, so it will always be white. Smart.
yay!
the view of Paris going up the many, many stairs to Sacre Coeur
little New Orleans style jazz band playing on the steps
Eiffel Tower from the top of the hill
see? lots & lots of steps
but a gorgeous view
in Paris
outside Notre Dame at about 10:30 at night, and it's just starting to get dark. I thought the sky looked gorgeous
the pointy thing on your left is Place de la Concorde (where many famous beheadings took place including Marie Antoinette), and the one on the right is the Eiffel Tower
big head in the Luxembourg gardens
that says "Arago" which is the street I practically live on
really big head. I've seen several of these in Paris - I don't know what their obsession is, but it's a little creepy.
original statue of liberty inside the Luxembourg gardens. Bartholdi, the architect, made this model first, and then based the building of the New York one off of this.
little plaque explaining the mini-lady liberty which was put in the garden in 1906.
bee hives. I guess it's a garden - they need extra polliniation.
pretty garden
Arc de Triomphe!!
Vanessa & I stood in the middle of the street to take this (sorry, Mom)
Champs Elysees
hooray!
one arc inside the Arc de Triomphe
THE STAIRS - you have to walk to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. It's 285 stairs, or something ridiculous. And exhausting.
statue inside the Arc de Triomphe
the arc is dedicated to the armies of France & the soldiers that gave their lives
to the unknown soldier
this explains the arc de triomphe. "This monument, begun in 1806 in honor of the grand army, long interrupted, continued in 1823 with a new dedicated, achieved in 1836 by King Louis Philippe the 1st who consecrated the glory of the French armies."
model of the arc, in the arc.
Paris! The industrial district of Paris with the skyscrapers are in the distance
there were some soldiers sending messages on top
Eiffel Tower
hooray
Sacre Coeur
Tower Montparnasse
plaque underneath the arc de triomphe
this is the speech that General Charles de Gaulle gave over French airwaves asking for help to get the German forces out of France. The plaza around the Arc is named for him.
tomb of the unknown soldier for WWII
near the skyscrapers is what is galled "The Grand Arch" - you can kind of see it.
Place de la Concorde
Les Invalides - hospital for armies
